Chapter Two
The Meeting
Arriving at the café, they pull up in the car park at the side of the building. A huge sign stands at the entrance: Private Car Park – Customers of Sunnyside Up Café Only. The street is packed. People are everywhere; they’re all rushing past each other with bags in their hands, and no one is smiling. Children run beside their parents, desperately trying to keep up. Matthew hops out of the car and takes a deep breath in, embracing the vision of the Honey family’s most treasured place to eat out.
He walks around the car and sees Eve smiling. She appears to be day-dreaming.
“Come on then, kidda,” he says.
She walks over to her dad with a big genuine grin spread across her face. Linked arm in arm, they form a vision of strength as they make their way towards the café.
The smell of cooking bacon, sausages and fresh coffee awakens their nostrils as they walk through the door. There are two young girls behind the counter, looking flustered in their grease-stained pinafores, their hair tied up tight. It’s clear that these two would rather be anywhere but behind the counter right now, as the café is starting to get busy. As they rush around working on a customer’s order, the girls notice Matthew and Eve and acknowledge them with sincere smiles.
“Hi, Matthew. Hi, Eve,” says one.
“Eve! My God, I haven’t seen you for ages – I’ll come over and see you shortly,” says the other.
“Okay. Hey, Sophie,” Eve replies.
“Hi, Lucy. Hi, Sophie. Is your mum or dad about?” Matthew asks.
“No – they’re still on a cruise, ain’t they?” Sophie responds.
“Oh yeah – I forgot. Are they enjoying their exciting travelling experience?”
“They’re lovin’ it – last I heard they don’t wanna come back. I told ’em they better, I want me life back. Suppose it’s all right for some, aye.”
“Ha, well, when you speak to them next, please let them know I was asking after them.”
“Sure – will do.”
The café is family run; it’s really nothing spectacular and could probably do with a lick of paint. Being a very wealthy man, Matthew could take Eve to any café or fancy restaurant in any location on the globe. They can afford all the lavish luxuries they desire. But they stand by this family run café and will visit until the day they are taken from this beautiful planet. All those other cafés, restaurants and luxurious locations don’t hold the one irreplaceable thing that this café holds: memories. They weren’t always wealthy; Matthew and Lauren built their empire together, and before their days of wealth, this café was where they would come to mastermind. To them the café was “The Creative Station”. They were never mithered, always welcomed, treated like family, and so they kept up the connection with the place. They would often have business meetings here, even long after their success. It was their lucky charm, a place of zen.
Eve takes a seat in their usual spot, “The Mastermind Corner”. As she sits, Matthew makes his way over to the counter. Lucy and Sophie are already preparing his order before he arrives; now that’s what you call a regular customer – loyal to the service and the service loyal to him. Sophie and Lucy’s parents own the café and they’ve grown up with Matthew around. He has always been a regular, even before he got married and was a single young man without a care in the world. Matthew would come in the café with treats and give them to Lucy and Sophie, but not before he pretended he’d found them behind their ears. They saw him develop into a husband with a loving family, and they played with Eve as she was growing up. They’ve seen him a broken man at the depths of despair, trying desperately to live a normal life as a single dad, whilst working to keep the empire and legacy he built with his wife alive. Matthew is exchanging pleasantries with Lucy and Sophie when suddenly he feels a strong presence behind him.
The hairs stand up on the back of his neck and he freezes. He turns around and is stunned by the person standing there staring back. Standing proudly, with her head held high and shoulders back, is the most elegant woman he has ever seen. Her smile is radiant and welcoming and her energy beams brighter than a cluster of stars.
Matthew is lost for words. His mouth has dried up with nerves. He takes in her flowing dark brown hair, her slight freckles and perfectly painted nude plump lips. She has a natural, enchanting beauty. Just as the situation is getting slightly awkward, she says, “Are you okay?”
Unable to reply, Matthew continues to gaze in admiration at this woman. She’s wearing a low-cut cream blouse, dark skinny jeans and fabulous nude stilettos. Hanging over one arm is an oversized beige handbag, a pile of paperwork clutched close to her body in the other.
Matthew’s eyes are drawn by a glimmer to her slim neck, where there hangs a white-gold necklace. Suspended from this delicate chain is a striking silver heart-shaped locket. It is similar, if not identical, to the one Eve now has.
Tucking her hair behind her ear, she asks with her sophisticated voice, “Excuse me, are you okay…?”
“You are beautiful,” Matthew finally says, although he probably wishes his brain had processed the words first. He instantly turns red with embarrassment.
Blushing too, the woman juggles her bag and paperwork in her arms and she puts out her hand. “Hi, my name’s Jess. It’s very nice to meet you.”
Reaching out with his hand, Matthew replies, “Hi, Jess – my name’s Matthew. Nice to meet you too.” As he shakes her hand, he stares at her perfection. Caught up in the moment, he again blurts out words before thinking: “Would you like to join me and my daughter for a coffee?”
Lucy and Sophie, who have been chattering away as they prepare Matthew’s order, suddenly fall silent. The coffee machine screeches away as the boiling hot frothy milk Sophie is holding starts to bubble over, and Lucy stands motionless, the iced bun in her hand hovering above a plate. They both resemble statues.
Jess sends a puzzled look their way.
“Oh, don’t worry about the girls,” says Matthew. “I’m a regular and – well – in all the years I’ve been coming here, I’ve never asked anyone to come and sit with me and my daughter.” He starts raising his voice slightly. “That’s why they’re staring…”
Lucy and Sophie jump at Matthew’s words.
“Oh, crap,” says Lucy under her breath as she drops the iced bun on the floor. Sophie jumps once more as she notices the hot milk frothing over the sides of the metal jug.
“Oh gosh, Lucy, quick, pass me a cloth.”
She finally switches off the coffee machine and the two girls kneel on the floor cleaning up the mess they’ve just made in silence.
Matthew, who a few moments ago was shy and bewildered, has now found his voice. “Please say you’ll join us.” Presuming she’s going to say yes, he asks her, “What can I get you?”
Looking down to the floor in a flirtatious way, Jess begins twisting the ends of her hair; she looks up to Matthew and enchantingly begins to gaze into his eyes, holding his full attention.
“Matthew, thank you for the wonderful invite…”
Waiting patiently for a response, he looks back at her, spellbound. He desires nothing more than to find out who this woman is. With her head held high she accepts his offer.
Internally bouncing up and down like a child with excitement, Matthew asks, “What would you like?”
Looking to the menu above the counter, she says, “Hmm, please may I request a hot chocolate, extra froth and no marshmallows?” She has a slight look of disgust on her face. “I’m actually not a huge fan of coffee.”
“Huh, you don’t like coffee, how can you not like coffee?”
“Well, it’s quite simple really – there’s only one valid reason why I detest coffee and that is… It tastes far too much like coffee.”
Immediately she begins to chuckle, and Matthew joins in. Captivated, Matthew begins to question if
this is really happening – and if so, if it is possible to magically stumble across such enchanting beauty and find an instant connection whilst spontaneously going out for coffee, then why hadn’t life helped him sooner?
He is amazed by this striking woman who has a strong presence, an air of elegance and, as an added bonus, a sense of humour. Granted, no one could replace his wife, but this instant connection seems somewhat similar.
Matthew feels a magnetic pull that’s way out of his control. Their eye contact continues. Whatever this powerful presence is, it doesn’t scare him – it draws him in.
He’s trying to appear cool, but Matthew is now getting more and more nervous by the second. Instead of letting his handsome features and wonderful personality do the talking for him, he’s getting out of sync with himself. He leans slightly on the display case where all the wonderful homemade pastries and cakes are perfectly displayed, but almost immediately his elbow slips off the glass pane. Feeling slightly humiliated he tries to compose himself as Jess holds back her laughter.
Lucy and Sophie look on, gently shaking their heads and very subtly rolling their eyes. They exchange knowing looks and smiles. He clearly likes this woman. Much to Matthew’s relief, Sophie interrupts the awkward pleasantries: “Take a seat, you two – I’ll bring it over to the table.”
Jess looks to Sophie and says, “How very kind. Thank you.”
“My God. Thank you,” Matthew says quietly as he walks away.
Sophie mimes, “Stay cool.”
Lucy and Sophie watch as he makes his way over to the table. They would both love nothing more than to see him happily sharing creative ideas and planning growth, happiness and a life with another person.
Walking back to the table with Jess proudly by his side, it suddenly dawns on Matthew that while he was caught up in his giddy school boy mentality, he didn’t consider Eve. What is she going to think about this? How will she feel about him inviting this woman over to “The Mastermind Corner”? The very same corner he once shared with her mum. After all, this isn’t just any table and chairs, or any café; it has meaning, it has purpose – it has memories. The kind of memories you don’t want to replace or have fade. With this thought fresh in his mind, Matthew becomes more nervous than before. But it’s too late now; they’ve reached the table, there’s no going back.
Matthew has both his hands inside his pockets, fiddling with a tiny piece of fluff to distract himself. Eve sits arched over, leaning with her elbows firmly placed on the table and holding her phone in both her hands. She peers from the corner of her eye at her dad, then looks up fully with a confused expression on her face when she notices the woman standing next to him. Jess puts her bag and paperwork down at the side of the chair. Eve looks expectantly at her dad, who is for the second time today speechless. Eve’s facial expression begins to change and, as the silence grows, the energy circulating in the air becomes awkward. Feeling more and more uncomfortable by the second, Matthew still says nothing. Looking at Eve he wipes his head, which is now forming tiny beads of sweat. He finally starts to speak, but before he can say a word, Jess puts out her hand.
“Hi – I’m Jess. Your father has politely asked me to join you for a drink. I do hope this is okay?”
Eve looks blankly at the hand in front of her, then glances to her dad.
“Eve, don’t be so rude!” Matthew says sternly.
Eve crosses her arms and stares at Jess. Without any attempt to shake Jess’s hand, she says, “As you know, my name’s Eve – enjoy your drink.”
Eve gets up from her chair and starts to walk out of the café. As she reaches the edge of the table, Matthew puts out his arm to stop her.
“I apologise for my daughter’s behaviour, she’s normally very pleasant – aren’t you, Eve?”
He turns to his daughter, looking at her with complete desperation and confusion.
“Don’t apologise for me – apologise for yourself…” Eve snaps.
Matthew frantically tries to work out what Eve’s problem is; he’s practically begging her with his expression. Eve rolls her eyes, but seems to relent a little.
“A bit of warning that you were inviting a woman to mum’s corner may have been nice. You know that thing you always go on about – mutual respect?”
Sitting back in her chair, she puts her elbows onto the table once more, and this time she places her head into her hands. Matthew’s relieved. Before taking a seat, he pulls out a chair for Jess, who surprisingly enough sits at the table, seemingly unfazed by Eve’s attitude. As they sit down, Sophie comes over with a tray filled with hot drinks and cakes, which she places directly in front of Eve. Sophie looks across the table at Eve, who peers through the gaps in her fingers. The pair make eye contact; Sophie smiles. Laying the cups out in front of her elbows, she whispers, “Don’t worry, it’ll be okay.”
Eve takes a deep breath and looks at her dad, then at Jess. Finally, she takes another deep breath in and as she exhales she stands up, straightens her jacket and puts out her hand. “I’m Eve, nice to meet you,” she says
Jess begins to smile and shakes her hand. Relieved, Matthew lets out a huge sigh as both Jess and Eve sit back in their seats. Satisfied with the pleasant exchange between the two, he begins passing them their drinks.
In all the commotion and brief excitement, Matthew has forgotten one thing. Because of his slight hearing loss, Matthew doesn’t always hear his phone, and so he always has the volume and vibration turned up to the max. Looking embarrassed, Matthew reaches into his silk-lined pocket and takes out his phone; it’s flashing like a strobe light in a nightclub. The reminder tells him that he only has thirty minutes left before his meeting. Starting to panic as he presses the screen, Matthew, for probably the third time today, speaks before he thinks. “Jess, I’m so sorry, I’ve got an urgent meeting and we must leave now or I’ll be late.” As he gets to his feet he continues, “But please say you’ll join us for dinner this evening at our home.”
Eve’s jaw drops, and her eyes widen as she continues to stare at her dad in disbelief. Matthew’s not even aware of Eve’s reaction. He patiently waits for a response, the seconds turning into what feels like hours.
Tucking her hair behind her ear, Jess looks to Matthew and locks eyes with him. Cupping the locket around her neck she says, “Are you sure?”
“Yes, of course. Please say you’ll join us.”
“How can I refuse? Matthew, that would be amazing, thank you.”
Eve shoves her chair back with a loud screech as it scrapes across the floor. She pushes past Jess as though she isn’t present and doesn’t make eye contact with her dad, or Lucy and Sophie behind the counter, who are now casting concerned glances over to the corner. Lucy hurries out after Eve, whilst Sophie continues to serve the customers. Matthew, now unsure of what to do and where to turn, sees Lucy chasing after Eve, and so he chooses to stay with Jess.
They exchange numbers and he says, “I will text you my address shortly, it’s on the beachfront. Do you know it?”
“Yes, I’ve been there once before. From what I recall it’s very beautiful and tranquil there, which is perfect. One of my main pleasures in life is not being disturbed by others.”
Matthew looks deep into her eyes and becomes captivated, unable to process his thoughts, or even ask questions like what do you enjoy eating? He can’t explain what is happening to his emotions, or why he is so fixated on this woman. In a desperate attempt to ensure a second meeting, he says, “I’ll make sure Eve is on her best behaviour this evening.”
Reaching out to Matthew, she places her hand on his arm and says, “Don’t worry, I can handle a teenage girl.”
Looking down to her hand, Matthew embraces the moment as she touches him. He replies, “Thank you, but it’s really not acceptable. You shouldn’t be treated like that.” With a pained expression on his face he continues, “I will try and explain this even
ing why Eve is troubled, but this is no excuse for her rude attitude, I know.”
Matthew is so wrapped up in this woman’s presence, her energy, her aura. He stands like a love-struck dummy, gazing deep into her big brown eyes, totally oblivious to what is going on outside the café.
Chapter Three
The Awkward Silence
Eve stomps fiercely out into the car park. She’s furious and hears nothing but her own voice in her mind. Our home! Really! Mum’s home. What’s going on with my dad?
As Lucy catches up to her, Eve shouts, “Sophie said it would be okay!”
Unaware of what happened inside the café, Lucy looks at Eve, confused. Eve has now stopped walking and is standing at the side of the car. Lucy approaches her with caution.
“Eve, what’s happened?”
Unable to control the rage building inside her, Eve shouts out and waves her arms in the air. Her outburst is drawing unwanted attention from passers-by, some of whom are shaking their heads in disgust at this young girl screaming aggressively. Youngsters standing across the way are looking over in shock, whispering to one another and pointing. Eve breaks down, her tears falling uncontrollably.
“I’ll tell you what’s happened.” She slowly places one foot in front of the other, moving closer to Lucy, who nervously steps back. Eve points her finger directly in Lucy’s face. “Not only has he brought this woman to our table, my mum’s table, he’s invited her to our home!”
Lucy looks taken aback at Eve. Appearing more and more upset by the second, Eve falls to the ground. Rushing to her side, Lucy cradles Eve tight, kissing her gently on the head. She whispers words meant from the heart, “Please calm down, Eve. I don’t like seeing you this way and, well, do you not think you might just be overreacting slightly?”
Taking immediate offence, Eve stands up, pushes Lucy away and once again begins shouting. This time, her face turns red with anger, and saliva flies from out of her mouth as she loses control of her actions and emotions.
The Broken Page 2